Suns' Devin Booker reveals 'most important' factor after gritty win over Lakers

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The Phoenix Suns took down the Los Angeles Lakers, 109-105 in Monday’s contest. While Kevin Durant and Devin Booker both had 30, and 33 points respectively, it wasn’t solely the scoring that caught attention. It was their defense. Following the game, Booker spoke to reporters and illustrated how team defense should be orchestrated.

“Communication, I think that’s the most important thing,” Booker said. “And then two, as we were saying about Ryan (Dunn), the willingness to compete and take it personally. Take when somebody scores on you personally. Let it piss you off, let it get you mad, and you should wear that.”

Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer is an offensive mastermind. He’s transformed offenses to shoot the three-ball at a high volume and constructs his team to such a degree. At the same time, there are two sides to basketball; offense and defense. Luckily for Budenholzer, when he coached with the Milwaukee Bucks, he had two of the top defenders on his team, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday.

Although the Phoenix head coach doesn’t have defensive stars like those two, he still has a solid group nonetheless. Rookie forward Ryan Dunn has shown serious promise. He’s been tasked with defending Luka Doncic and LeBron James the past two games. He’s limiting All-Stars to 26.3% shooting when he is the primary defender this season, according to StatMuse.

Since returning from the Olympics, Booker has been highlighted as a standout defender. Even USA Basketball head coach Steve Kerr called Booker the unsung MVP. That seems to have translated over

Regardless, Phoenix has the seventh-best defensive rating in the league (109.7). For a team without an All-NBA defender, that metric is quite impressive. Still, it’s only been four games so overreactions are a guarantee. However, Budenholzer knows the defensive identity of his team is a work in progress.

“We work on it in practice,” Budenholzer said. “I think there’s a competitiveness and edge to our group. No doubt, we have a lot of offensive firepower and a lot of talent. I think all those guys know that for them to win, for us to win, they’ve got to be great defensively. We’ve got to be great defensively and some nights it may be our offense but hopefully every night we can bring our defense. We’re going to continue to harp on that.”

The Suns defense is more than Devin Booker

Transitioning over to the bench, Royce O’Neale has been the energizer bunny for the Suns. Although he may not get touches like some other Phoenix players, he brings the intensity every night. Whether 10 minutes or 25 minutes, the defensive instincts and acumen are there.

An interesting tactic Budenholzer implemented was a true small-ball lineup. This puts O’Neale at the power forward spot and Durant in at the center spot. Durant is an underrated shot blocker, so using him in that position utilizes his length. For O’Neale, it’s a chance to show his toughness and showcase that defensive pride, as Booker alluded to earlier.

When O’Neale is in with that small-ball lineup, he’s reaping the benefits. With the ninth-best defensive rating in the league, he takes the challenge of guarding the top players. Some of that comes with a bigger player matched up on him. Regardless, O’Neale still sees the mismatches.

“We use it to our advantage,” O’Neale said. “Length, speed, versatility. Being able to switch on ball screens, stay under, protecting the rim. And then just covering for each other. I think that’s the biggest thing.”

Luckily, O’Neale and Durant played together when they were on the Brooklyn Nets, so their chemistry hasn’t changed. The defensive identity is appearing more and more present every game. They limited the Dallas Mavericks, and the Lakers to 102, and 105 points, respectively. 

Phoenix will travel back to the Intuit Dome and take on the Los Angeles Clippers. With a near fully healthy roster, the Suns should continue building chemistry and a defensive identity to instill the rest of the season.

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